This Mom And Daughter Accidentally Packed A Bag Of Street Garbage For College

Lori and Amanda Wolfson, a mom and daughter from North Caldwell, New Jersey, recently got a smelly surprise at the end of a 12-hour roadtrip.

Lori Wolfson

It all started on August 11 when Lori drove to New York City to pick up Amanda, who was living there for the summer, to move her to school. The two packed up all her things in trash bags, loaded them from the sidewalk into the car, and drove to their home in New Jersey.

"So we’re in the car, and I said, 'It really smells,'" Lori told BuzzFeed News. Because her daughter works out a lot, she figured it had to be dirty clothes or her yoga mat.

Five days later, they moved Amanda into her sorority house in Indiana after a long drive that included a one night stopover.

So, they started opening up the bags. It was then that Amanda realized they'd brought a little something extra along to school.

"She goes, 'Oh my god, mom. I found out what smells,'" Lori said. "'This is filled with garbage!'”

Lori Wolfson

Lori said they were laughing so hard they were "rolling." People stopped by with air freshener and joked that because they had brought garbage across state lines they had to go take it back. Instead, they "brought it to the dumpster as fast as possible."

"Thank god there were no maggots or rats in there or anything," she said. "It could’ve been a lot worse."

Four days after tossing the bag full of street trash, Amanda said her room still smells "unbearable."

Lori Wolfson

For comparison's sake, the open bag is what she used to pack her clothes in. The closed bag was what they later discovered to be filled with garbage that had been stewing on a New York City street in the middle of summer.

"All of the moms who have been moving their kids in the past few days have been Lysoling my room," Amanda said. "I got some complementary Febreze!"

Julia Reinstein is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.